It’s so nice to be back in action as the news is pouring in faster than I can even keep up with. With bucks upon buckets of stories gracing the front page, we’ve decided to pile a few of the smaller stories into a new edition of “News Bites”. Inside you can read about BBC’s record ratings for “Demons”, check out how the posters were designed for Bitch Slap and watch what is said to be “the most outrageously brutal scene in movie history” from a film entitled Penance (now on DVD). Watch for more news as it comes in.MANGA GANTZ BECOMES 2 FILMS!

According to ANN, popular Japanese Manga series Gantz will be adapted into not one, but two live-action feature films starring Kazunari Ninomiya (Tekkonkinkreet, Letters from Iwo Jima) of the Arashi musical group and award-winning actor Ken’ichi Matsuyama (Death Note, Detroit Metal City, NANA, The Legend of Kamui). Shinsuke Sato (The Princess Blade, Suna-dokei, Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror) is directing for a 2011 release.

“The story follows a young Tokyo college student who is reanimated after a deadly subway accident. Kei Kurono (Ninomiya) and his friend Masaru Kato (Matsuyama) go on violent, seemingly endless missions at the behest of an unseen host.”

This is the first time that these two well-known actors have worked together. Filming begins next month and is slated to end next April. The two leads have been undergoing training and practicing action sequences. The films will open in the winter and spring of 2011.

Now on DVD, director Jake Kennedy is still pushing the release of Penance with what he calls “the most outrageously brutal scene in movie history.” Watch it below and decide for yourself.

Plot crunch: “When a single mother working as a stripper is invited by a friend to take her place to dance at a well-paid private party, she jumps at the chance of making the extra money. But little does she know, the private party is actually a malicious trap by a psychopathic killer with a vendetta against strippers, where her worst nightmares are about to begin.”

Arriving in theaters this Friday is the action-thriller Bitch Slap, which features hot chicks, guns and fist fights.

From Greenlight Designs comes the initial entry in a series of “Peer to Peer” articles focusing on motion picture marketing. In their first article they interview the filmmakers behind the upcoming film Bitch Slap and talk about the poster art design. Check them out by clicking here and then clicking the images.

“ At its core, BITCH SLAP follows three bad girls (a down-and-out stripper, a drug-running killer and a corporate powerbroker) as they arrive at a remote desert hideaway to extort and steal $200 Million in diamonds from a ruthless underworld kingpin. Things quickly spin out of control as allegiances change, truths are revealed, other criminals arrive for the score, the fate of the world hangs in the balance and they are forced to confront a villain much worse than they ever expected… themselves. It’s the ultimate morality tale as, one by one, they realize the whole she-bang was a set-up and one of them may not even be human…”

BBC’s DEMONS SETS RECORD RATINGS

“Demons” premiered this past Saturday, January 2 on BBC in the UK to record breaking ratings. Here’s a chunk of the press release:

“Television’s longest running hit science fiction series, Doctor Who, continues to break records for cable channel BBC AMERICA. On Saturday, January 2, the U.S. premieres of Doctor Who: The End of Time, Part Two followed by Demons, delivered BBC AMERICA its highest ever primetime rating and delivery in total viewers. That same day, a Doctor Who marathon assisted in delivering BBC AMERICA its best total day delivery ever in A25-54 in Live and Live + Same Day DVR. BBC AMERICA’s previous highest ever primetime rating was delivered by the first special, Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars, which aired two weeks earlier.

Doctor Who: The End of Time, Part Two was the last of three Doctor Who specials airing three straight Saturdays on BBC AMERICA. The finale to David Tennant’s era as the Tenth Doctor and Russell T Davies as lead writer, the special saw Tennant’s Doctor regenerating into actor Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor, whose adventures will begin on BBC AMERICA this spring.

Over 1.335 million viewers watched the program on Saturday, ranking BBC AMERICA #8 in coverage rating during the premiere among ad supported cable nets for A25-54.

That same night the premiere of Demons, from the writers of Hex and Merlin, delivered BBC AMERICA its highest rated premiere ever for a new series in Live + Same Day. Starring Philip Glenister (Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes), the contemporary spin on the legacy of Bram Stoker’s Dracula finds the last descendant of Van Helsing battling the underworld of modern-day London. The series continues with U.S. premiere episodes on Saturdays at a new time, 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on BBC AMERICA.”